Hallo og hae hae!!
OK, eins og tid kannski sjaid ta er eg nuna i utlondum og tad er frekar erfitt ad venjast 'o'islensku lyklabordi!! Tannig ad td verdid bara ad fyrirgefa!
I actually think that's a way better idea to write in Icelandic anyways, 'cause now I'm in the US and the keyboard here are not Icelandic (obviously), so I'll just stick the English language!
So, I'm in the states and I'm loving it so far ! I actually got sunburned today and I got a tan line! OK, let's start at the beginning!
I left Iceland on June 4th (my mum and dad's 25th wedding anniversary, if someone wants to wish them a happy anniversary my mum has the email: fmt@simnet.is )!!! Anyways, I left that morning very very very early! I slept for about an hour and a half because I had to pack, say bye to a couple of people, clear my room 'cause there are some people going to rent it this summer, etc, etc...
My friend Gulli came over at about 5 in the morning and he drove me to the Leifstod airport. I got there and bought some stuff and all of a sudden felt really tired. Maybe 'cause I didn't sleep that much;-) The time was about 7 am when I called my old work at the gym, which doesn't have a name now that I know of because someone just bought it. It openes at 6 am, so I just wanted to leave a message for the people that I work with there, they are all awsome!
The flight was quite pleasant. I was happy to land at Heathrow airport, London though. I don't what it is, but I somehow always feel like that I have to wait forever for my luggage at luggage claim! I waited for a long long time! Oh, I forgot, I actually bought some stuff for the people that I was going to stay with in the duty-free in Iceland, but I forgot the bag on the Icelandair plane and when I asked for it, it was gone! So..., sorry Hannes, Kata, Sif and Olla! Thanks for letting me stay, you are all awsome!
So, I was at Heathrow and I caught the tube to Bethnal Green and then a bus for about 5 minutes to their house! I was so happy to be there! They, that is; Olla, Sif and Kata, were all ready to go out, so that's what we did! It was awsome! We went to Balans to begin with (a great gay orientated restaurant on Old Compton Rd), then we moved from there to a place called the Village! It was OK! We actually met an Icelandic guy called Bjartmar who is studying drama in London and he came out with us. So, we were five and we decided to try to get into that really "hot" club called "The Shadow Lounge"! It sounded cool. The girls put me infront of them, 'cause aparently there was supposed to be a guest list and we had to pass that! So, I just went up to that little posh robe and said : "HI"! And the bouncer said: "Hello, are you guys on the guest list?"! I said: "NO, do we need to be?" (and I pulled up a very Icelandic accent, just like Bjork)! He said: "NO, of course not"!!!!! So, we all walked in! How great was that. So, just a hint for you guys out there, just pull up an accent and smile and you WILL get into the Shadow Lounge in London!
We had a good time in there and we met some cool people and had some laughs! I actually stayed longer than everyone else 'cause I made some great people. And you all know me, the people person, I stayed to had a blast until I went home about 2 hours later!
The next day I woke at about noon and Olla and Sif had already ordered tickets for the musical Taboo which Boy George made! It was actually quite something, to say the least. It didn't start of very promising, but it turned out to be very very good. I walked out there a very happy man. Me, Olla and Sif went to a Thai restaurant in Soho and had really good food. Then I went all by myself to "Kiss me Kate", in Victoria Palace! An award winning show, and it was SSOOOOOOOOOOOO much fun! I loved it! I didn't even care about going by myself!! It was so fun! After it I went home and me and Olla and Sif sat for hours and drank red and white wine and were just talking! Again I slept for about an hour 'cause my flight was very very early. Plus, I was very far away from Heathrow, so I needed to start very early. Actually, when I got to the tube station, they hadn't even opened the passage to go down into the subway, so, I had to wait outside for a little bit with some people! I slept almost all the time on the way to Heathrow on my bag, (maybe because I didn't sleep for but and hour!!;-) Then, Heahrow was all clogged up with people 'cause the whole computer system was down that day in the whole airport! I actually stayed in line for about hours out of the 7 that I was at the airport. All the check in couters had to manually check us in, and it was actually quite sufficient, unbelievably enough! But there was a delay of 2 hours and then we were off and I slept the whole way to Chicago!
I met my friend Tony and stayed with him for two days in down town Chicago and I had an amazing time down there! I went all the way up to Sears towers right away on the Thursday and it was fine. Me and Tony went out for dinner that night and had a blast. On Friday I woke up at noon and had breakfast at the Corner Bakery and then went to the post office to send a book to my mum that I had bought for her.I was going to walk to the Field museum from the Navy Pier (for the once who know it, it's actually quite a distance), but I decided not to when I saw how far it was, if would have taken me the whole day!!! So, I just went back to change into my sneakers and I went jogging by the lake! There were actually quite many people around but it was about 25 C outside and I just really much felt like jogging, so... It was awsome. I felt just like doctor Green on ER, I've seen in jog right there where I was jogging! This area is bautiful, too! I had a shower and then me and Tony went again to have a dinner at a really nice Italian restaurant and were actually going out that evening, too. We went to a club called, SPIN! It was OK, I guess. It's in the neighbourhood called 'Boys-Town' And is a well know area in Chicago for being gay orientated. On Friday nights they have shower-dancing competition or something, which actually was very sad! The guys stepped on stage and danced for about a minute under a shower with only a towel to conceal their private parts! But it wasn't much of a show at all! We tryed going to another club and then another but I couldn't get into one of them with my ISIC student ID, and the other one had shitty music, so, we just went home!
The day after, which actually is, today, we started off having brunch with Tony's lesbian friends! Laura Lee, Jaimee (I actually have no idea how to write that name, but those two are a couple) and then Donna! We had a nice brunch and I finally got going after the brunch 'cause I had food in my stomach! Donna had to leave, and that left me, Tony, Laura and Jaime (AGAIN: ?) to go to a big festival to 'Girls-town'! It was SOOOO much fun! I know I sound really tacky about all this AWSOME, GREAT, UNBELIEVABLE, STUNNING, COOL, etc... but I'm tellin you guys, that's what it is. There are not words to describe the fun I had today! I was just really sad that I had to leave! It was a big festival and somehow and for some reason it is a combined festival of Swedish descendents and Chicago lesbians! What a coold combination. There was an old woman, dressed in the Swedish tratitional dress, next to a leather, gay, butch guy talking about AIDS awairness!! How cool is that! I had the best of time. Soon, the four of us; me, Tony, Laura and Jaime (?) found a really nice little bar by that street and we started buying those alchohol slush things with strawberry flavor1 YUM! It was honestly about 25 - 30 degrees C and I actually took my top of there and we just drank these coctails all day. The music was awome. There were people everywere, Swedes, gay guys, but especially lesbians and we were all just talking along all day long. I actually made really good friends today; Laura and Jaime! I think I drank about 7 of those slush things and I was feeling quite tipsy (drunk woud be the correct term, though). We moved to the back of that bar and we stared talking to these people and everyone was just so, so, so, so, so, so, nice! We actually stayed ifront of that bar before, but we moved to the back of it later on. But we alwasy stayed in the sun! I actually got a little sunburned today and the back of my neck feels a little soar beacause of that! The people I met there were all really great and I love Laura, Jaime, and of course Tony G!! The guy that I stayed with, what an awsome person! Heida would know, she met him while he was in Iceland actually ;-)!!!
But everything comes to an end and I need to leave, 'cause I was going to work in Wisconsin for the summer and had not forgotten that. I had to break away from all these great people and say good-bye for the time being and leave. Tony went with me to the train station but it wasn't that sad saying good-bye to everyone, 'cause I knew I would see them all again in the beginning of August, that is, after camp, so...
I stepped of the train in Homewood, Illinois and there, another Tony was waiting for me, but this one is Tony Corsello! I need to point out now that that when I talk about Tony, I'm talking about Tony that I work with, and when I talk about Tony G, I'm talking about the Tony that I staid with in the city! So; Tony G = city, Tony G = city, OK?
Anyways! I went to Tony's house and there was also Dominic, his brother and I was very glad to see them both! they are really great guys and I do enjoy their company all the time! Otherwise I don't think that I would be able to come back here, summer after summer. So, I was very glad to see them! Their parents came over a little later and we went out for dinner, all the five of us, me, Tony (no, G,. only Tony, s, Tony that I work with!!!;-), Dominic and their parents. They're all great people and I had a blast. Maybe itad something to do with the fact that I had been drinking all these coctails during the day, plus I had beer with dinner, but, whatever the reason was, I had a blast!
So, now we have come to the moment that is right now! We came home to the guys' house (the brothers Tony and Dominic live together and Glenwood school campus) and THE FIGHT was on while I was writing this whole damn mess. With 'The Fight' I mean Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson heavyweight championship on TV live! I couldn't really care less, but Lewis won and I'm all happy for him, YAY, cheers to you Lewis, whoever you are!
Now, I'm probably going to sleep and we are going to drive up to Camp Glenwood tomorrow morning! me, Tony, Dominic and Mark (the camp director) are all driving up together in four cars, so I'm going got be driving one of the vans that we use up there, so, it should be interesting to be driving on the expressway, 'cause I've never done that before. But I'm driving a very very new van (model 2002, I think, so, I'm actually looking forward to the drive and to camp, too. I friggin' love that job and I can't wait to just get started. But to those in Chicago area: I'm coming back to see you guys!
To all of you In Iceland, Aussie and everywhere else, I miss you all. Heida; Tony G gives you a big hug and he's waiting for the day that you come visit him!!! Camp Glenwood is on tomorrow and and I can't wait. Loads of love to all of you guys and thanks for reading this horse shit!
Love
Bjarni